Muskwa-Kechika Artist Camp Collection

Abstract

Athabasca University (AU), located in Northern Alberta, Canada, is partnering with Writing on the Ridge (WOTR), an arts organization, to promote wilderness preservation and to raise awareness about one of North America’s few remaining intact wilderness areas - the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area (M-KMA), located in the Northern Rocky Mountains of Canada.

Writing on the Ridge (WOTR) has created a program - the Muskwa-Kechika Artist Camp - that provides opportunities for artists to experience the natural history of the M-KMA. The Muskwa-Kechika Artist Camps bring aboriginal and non-aboriginal artists working in a variety of disciplines (visual art, writing, performance art, photography) into the wilderness area. The dialogue the artists begin, and the artwork they produce, raises awareness of the M-KMA.

AU is developing an online repository to host each year’s artwork. High resolution images of the artwork, and sound recordings of the literature produced will be available to an on-line audience. The website will also include features on the artists who participate, and a blog to encourage dialogue on art and wilderness. AU will also develop a virtual gallery and capture it on a DVD. The first DVD will be produced in 2008 to celebrate and promote International Polar Year. It will include artwork and literature from the 2006-2007 camps, and will bring the message of preservation and land management to an international audience.